I'm adding this section to my website partly as a public service and partly as a labor of love. The musical organizations on this list have given me memories that color over twenty years of my life.
Early music is the music of the Renaissance (roughly 1400-1600) and the Baroque (roughly 1600-1750). The early music movement began in the 1890's, but it didn't become an established part of the music scene until sometime in the 1970's. The revival of Renaissance and Baroque music is, in my opinion, one of the great achievements of the 20th Century. Musicians and scholars have resurrected a musical world that has its own special liveliness and its own special grace. For national and international links to early music organizations in other areas, try the
Houston Early Music web page.THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ANCIENT INSTRUMENTS
The ASAI is the oldest period instrument organization in the United States. It was founded in 1929-- in the pioneering days of the early music movement. It presents an annual three-concert festival on three Sunday afternoons in spring. The core of the Society's musical forces is a viol and harpsichord ensemble. The viols are the older cousins of the modern violin family. In their own day they were considered more aristocratic. Some of the most beautiful, complex music ever written was composed for viol ensembles and it really can't be played on modern violins. The ASAI festival is one of your best chances to hear viol music in Philadelphia, but the ASAI musicians also play Baroque instruments and modern instruments. For information call the ASAI at 215-635-3434.
BRANDYWINE BAROQUE
Brandywine Baroque is a Wilmington period instrument organization which has recently started playing in Philadelphia. Many of the musicians who play with Philadelphia early music organizations play with Brandywine Baroque. Their box office number is 302-594-1100.
EARLY MUSIC AT PENN
The University of Pennsylvania isn't a music school, but it's had a thriving early music program for most of the last thirty years. For most of its lifetime, the director was Mary Anne Ballard, a scholar and gamba player with an international reputation. The current director is Gwyn Roberts, an accomplished flute player and recorder player who has played with Piffaro and other Philadelphia early music groups. Many of the program's concerts are free. For information call the Penn music department concert office at 215-898-6244.
THE MOZART SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA
The Mozart Society Orchestra isn't exactly an early music group. It plays on modern instruments and it plays the music of the Classical period-- the symphonies and concertos of Mozart and Haydn. I'm including it here because I feel it captures an important aspect of the spirit of the early music movement. The Mozart Society recreates some of the conditions that characterized the musical life of the late 18th Century. Big concert halls and big orchestras are a 19th Century development. The Mozart Society fields a small orchestra-- about twenty to thirty musicians-- and it plays in a relatively small hall, the Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany on 13th Street near Pine. There's even a well attended reception after every concert-- just as the Viennese always mingled music with social life. The Society presents three free concerts each season. For information call 610-284-0174.
THE PENNSYLVANIA PRO MUSICA
The Pennsylvania Pro Musica performs the great choral works of the Baroque with the kind of smallish forces Baroque composers had in mind when they wrote their scores, in halls that are the right size for that kind of ensemble. Its music director, Franklin Zimmerman, is a a musicologist with an encyclopedic knowledge of Baroque performance practice and a musician who conducts with zest and intensity. The Pro Musica's annual Messiah is a Christmas tradition our family has enjoyed for over twenty years. Zimmerman conducts Messiah-- and everything else-- as if he means every note, and wants you to have the kind of experience he's having. He usually succeeds. For information, call 215-386-3214
THE PHILADELPHIA CLASSICAL SYMPHONY
Most period instrument groups play music that was composed for small ensembles-- music we would call chamber music today. The Philadelphia Classical Symphony plays large scale works on period instruments. They've presented big Baroque works like Bach's Mass in B Minor, and they've also performed symphonies and concertos by Beethoven and Mozart. The Classical Symphony is led by an inventive music director, Karl Middleman, whose motto is "every concert a happening." Middleman likes to surround his concerts with period dinners, minuet lessons, and lectures and demonstrations that place the music in its historical context. The music is good and his concerts are fun, too. For information call 610-664-8481
PHILOMEL
Philomel plays Baroque music on Baroque instruments-- Baroque strings, Baroque winds, and, of course, the harpsichord. Generally speaking, Baroque instruments were softer and mellower than their modern counterparts. Many groups play Baroque music by combining modern strings and winds with the harpsichord. That's a perfectly satisfactory compromise in the right hands, but a group like Philomel can achieve a more natural balance. Philomel's co-Director, Bruce Bekker, is a scholar-musician with a formidable knowledge of Baroque performance practice. Bekker and his colleagues have been at it for two decades now, and their years of experience and study enhance everything they do. For information call 215-248-9339
PIFFARO, THE RENAISSANCE WIND BAND
Piffaro started life as the Philadelphia Renaissance Wind Band. It acquired a new name when it received a recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon. Piffaro aroused Deutsche Grammophon's interest partly because no other group plays all the instruments its musicians have mastered. In a single Piffaro concert you can hear dulcimers, krumhorns, recorders, bagpipes, sacbuts, hurdy-gurdys, pipe and tabor, flutes, lutes, Renaissance guitars, and various kinds of percussion instruments. Piffaro concerts are a marvelous combination of musicianship, scholarship, and showmanship. They frequently combine their music with dancing, slide shows, and other extras that place the music in its historical context. Their annual Christmas program is one of the don't-miss items on my personal agenda. I always recommend Piffaro to people who want to introduce their children to the concert scene. The pieces are generally short, the instruments produce a tremendous variety of tone colors, and the quieter moments are usually followed by something more raucous. For information call 215-235-8469.
VOX-AMADEUS
Vox and Amadeus are the creations of a young conductor named Valentin Radu. Vox is a small choral ensemble which sings Renaissance vocal music in costume. That could look like a shallow trick in the wrong hands, but it creates something magical when the musicians know what they're doing. The Amadeus Choir and Orchestra is a larger group which performs choral works like Bach's Mass in B Minor with period instruments. On Good Friday, Amadeus presents an annual performance of the Mass in B Minor in center city Philadelphia. Another program to watch for is Vox's Christmas concert, performed in costume. For two hours you feel like you're eavesdropping on a court festivity in Castle Somewhere. For information call 610-688-2800.
SOME INDIVIDUAL MUSICIANS TO WATCH FOR
The Philadelphia region is the home of a number of freelance musicians who have acquired a notable expertise in early music performance. Here's a short list of some of the names I've learned to look for when I examine concert programs. It's not inclusive and it doesn't include performers who are primarily associated with one of the groups listed above.
Harpsichordists-- Elizabeth Boggs, Elena Easley, Susan Nowicki.
Viola da gamba and Baroque cello-- Vivian Barton, Douglas McNames, Anne Marie Morgan.
Fortepiano-- Andrew Willis, Susan Nowicki
Vocalists-- Sopranos Melanie DeMent, Laura Heimes, and
Tamara Matthews. Tenor David Price. Bass baritones David Newman, Keith Crawford, and Wilbert Boone.Home | Science Fiction | Music Writing | Essays
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